Beauty and the Beast

Here is a story of Beauty—exquisite and refined—and the Beast, willful and sadistic, and rich enough to have whatever he wants. And what he wants is this innocent stranger.

It’s a sophisticated story that combines Bluebeard, de Sade, Ubu Roi, Monsieur Verdoux, Divorce Italian Style, Lolita and Tristana—most of all Tristana—in a tiny-budget film set entirely on Hydra, gorgeous Hydra, where there isn’t a wide shot that won’t make the sales companies drool, and where the locations are five minutes’ walk apart.

As Buñuel’s friend Dalí said, “The one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.”

Brandy (Lord Brandon), a British aristocrat, rich, stylish, slimy, very George Sanders, indulges his whims, and lives on a Greek island where he plays de Sade to his lady slaves.

When Serena, a student on vacation, arrives he falls in love with her, drugs her, kidnaps her, chains her to his bed and tortures her. (Fiona Georgiadi, show reel)

Brandy’s mistress Despina does her submissive best to keep him amused, and sings in a bar he’s bought for her. But he’s bored. (Despina Mirou on the IMDb, and her reel)

Serena’s aunt hires a detective to find her. Brandy murders him and hides the body with an insolence that seems to guarantee he won’t be caught. (Duncan Skinner, reel)

Then he finds to his shock that Serena enjoys what he’s doing to her—and suddenly the center of power shifts to her.

And her family is rich! He has money himself, but when is there ever enough? Her brother visits, and Brandy, unbeknownst to her, murders him and puts her in line to inherit. Serena goes back to England to bury her brother. Will she return? Brandy pines for her. When she does come it’s with her Aunt Louiza, an American bitch—(Louiza Zouzias on the IMDb, and her reel)

—and detective Harry, who’s come to look into his colleague’s disappearance. Brandy plots Harry’s death needlessly because, so infatuated is he with Despina that, when he sees her sunbathing on a beach below, he trips and falls to his death. You can’t blame Brandy!

But he’s still got Aunt Louiza in the house, and she’s keeping Serena out of his reach. Now the dashing young yacht skipper Albert comes to the island and climbs up to Serena’s window. (Albert de Jongh on the IMDb, and his reel)

And he’s not the only rival: there’s also Despina.

But soon Brandy is lying awake listening to Albert and Serena making endless love. Albert takes her away with him, and Brandy is distraught.

At dinner he smokes opium and talks with his dead victims—they forgive him, his conscience is light—and with Serena, whose inner self appears in her physical absence—and suddenly with Louiza, who confesses that she loves him and longs to serve him. He mocks her, she shoots herself, and when his mind clears he is surprised to find that this has actually happened!

The funeral brings Serena back to the island—with Albert, who takes her away again. Brandy screams at his dinner guests—his murder victims—who try to cheer him up. But he prefers his uncomforted will.

Ah, but an accident happens, and Serena loses her arms. Albert can’t afford to take care of her, and brings her back to Brandy, who accepts his darling. They are married, and happy.

How could he not be? Before going to sleep she reads Harlequin romances, while he reads de Sade. He turns pages for her.

But then Albert sees what he’s lost, and comes to get her back. And Brandy…well.